Coloring Outside The Lines
by Jedi Trace
Summary: LEGACY comics era. Jariah Syn, Deliah Blue, Nyna Calixte/Morrigan Corde. Vignettes, drama, romance. Canon compliant.
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: Coloring Outside the Lines  
**Main characters**: Jariah Syn, Deliah Blue  
**Genre**: Drama, romance. Canon compliant.  
**Timeframe**: Legacy comics, between _Shards _and _Claws of the Dragon (_issues 11 & 14, specifically_)_.  
**Summary**: Captured and imprisoned by Nyna Calixte, Jariah Syn and Deliah Blue take comfort…in each other.

**Disclaimer:** LFL owns it and I write for free. All hail the brilliance of John Ostrander and Jan Duursema for creating _Legacy_.

**A/N**: My favorite crack ship which, thanks to issue #37 (_Tatooine_ #1), may not be entirely crack. ;) :D Also, there is an adult-rated version of this on my homepage site.

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Jariah Syn was tired of Moff Calixte.

She stood in front of him, feet planted strong, pursing her red lips into a thoughtful pucker while the interrogation droid hummed in the corner. Wasn't that thing out of battery power yet? Syn glared back at the woman who was nothing to look at: pale skin, black hair and blue eyes that were as cold as Cade's.

He tried to swallow and choked instead. Couldn't think about Cade. There was blood in his mouth and he swallowed it this time without coughing.

Calixte had captured him and Deliah three days ago, demanding to know the whereabouts of Cade Skywalker. He didn't know where Cade was. Neither one of them did and they told her so. The gornt had high-tailed it off Bastion, abandoning both of them. After the first day of interrogation, Syn had sworn on his dead father's grave that he didn't know where Cade had gone and it was the truth.

This Moff shutta was relentless, though. Didn't these filthy Imps have truth serum? He knew where he could get her a vial on the black market if she'd cut him loose.

Syn shook his head and blinked, trying to clear his eyes since he couldn't move his arms, being that they were shackled to the wall.

"Why do you protect Cade?" she asked, her voice as cold as everything else about her. "You hate Jedi, Syn, and your friend lied to you. All these years, he knew you hated Jedi but he never told you what he was. And then he abandoned you. You owe him nothing."

She stepped close and reached up to touch the gash above his lip with her red manicured fingernails. "Just tell me where he is, Jariah, and this will all be over."

Blood had filled his mouth again and he spit at her, smattering that white skin with specks of red. Her eyes flared, but she didn't recoil instantly. In fact, she didn't react at all until she calmly wiped the blood from her cheek and backed away.

She had reached the door and keyed it open before she turned around. "Maybe Deliah Blue can tell me where to find Cade."

Syn's blood ran cold and his voice came out tight, "_No._ She doesn't know, either. Leave her alone."

Calixte cocked her head in that arrogant smirk he'd learned to dread because it usually meant that something bad was about to happen. "We'll see. I've got men with devices who will be more than willing to spend some time with a pretty girl like that."

"NO!" Syn bucked against the restraints, shredding the skin on his wrists in the process. "Don't you touch her!" But Calixte turned and left. The interrogation droid floated behind her and he was left screaming at a closed door, "_Leave her alone!_"

:--:--:--:--:

The room was black.

He'd yelled until he was hoarse and they'd turned out the lights and left him hanging in the dark. Alone with nothing but the sound of his breathing, his mind raced and he pushed the bad thoughts out by repeating over and over again that she could take care of herself, Blue could. He'd seen it. They'd been in bad spots before and she'd never lost her cool. She could be a nasty chuffer, that girl. What was the old saying? _The only thing Zeltrons do better than love is fight_ - or something like that. She'd be okay.

She'd be okay.

She had to be okay.

:--:--:--:--:

Time had lost all meaning when the door finally opened and he squinted against the light. The shackles released with a 'click' and he fell on the floor, his legs buckling under the sudden weight of his body.

Two stormtroopers clattered forward and picked him up by the arms, half-dragging, half-carrying him into the corridor and down the hall. By the time they'd reached a plain, black door, he was almost on his feet again.

The door swished open and he was tossed into darkness again. He stumbled and fell forward, dropping to his hand and knees. The air was thick and stale, like there were no vents. Slowly, his eyes adjusted and he could see that there was one dim glowstrip overhead. The room was long enough that he couldn't see the other end and the walls appeared to be bare.

Something shuffled in the far corner and he tried to stand. Kneeling was a bad position for defense.

A voice came from the dark. "Jariah?"

"Who is it?" he whispered, his voice still not completely recovered.

"It's me." More shuffling and a figure leaned into the flickering light.

As soon as he saw her violet eyes, he staggered forward. "Blue!" She met him halfway and caught him under the arms, lowering him to the floor until they were kneeling face to face.

"Are you all right?" he asked, squinting and fumbling to hold her in enough light to see her. "Did they hurt you?"

She was dirty and bruised, but he didn't see any blood staining her skin or hair. "I'll be okay," she said, running her hands lightly over him as if feeling for injuries.

"Answer me, Deliah." He needed to hear her say it. Needed to hear that they hadn't done the horrible things he'd imagined in the dark. "Did they hurt you?"

He realized that he was clutching her too tight and eased his grip, but she didn't pull away. Instead, she cupped his cheek in her palm with one hand and smoothed his hair with the other. "Only what you see," she answered. "Promise."

Before he could ask more questions, she wrapped her arms around him, burying her head in his shoulder. Her skin was cold and she was shaking. Zeltron skin was supposed to be warm and he rubbed his hands over her back, trying to generate heat. She tightened her embrace and he knew her tremors weren't about being cold.

She pulled away finally, sitting back on her heels, and inspected his wounds with gentle, probing fingers. "What did they do to you?"

"Nothing too bad." He wasn't in the mood to talk about his time with the droid. Instead, he sat back against the wall and pulled Deliah with him. He'd meant for her to sit beside him, but instead she scooted forward with her knees on either side of his legs and sat on his lap, straddling him. She always got clingy when she was upset and he shifted so that she'd be more comfortable.

"Have you eaten?" she asked, settling against him.

The silver bands in his hair jingled softly when he shook his head 'no.' Food had been offered for cooperation, of course, but he'd refused. Without asking, he knew Deliah had refused, too.

"What did you tell them?" she asked, her voice muffled against his shoulder.

He shrugged. "The truth. I - we - don't know anything."

"If you _did_ know where Cade was -" She pulled back so she could see him. "Would you have told them?" she asked, her face expressionless.

It was a fair question. Cade had been his best friend since they were barely-grown boys and he owed him his life more times than he could count. Yeah, he was mad that Cade had never told him about being a Jedi. He was mad that Cade had jumped ship with his Jedi friends. And he was mad that he and Blue were in an Imp prison getting roughed up about it.

But it was hard times. Ever since the Sith had taken over, being marked as a Jedi was a death mark and Jariah didn't want his friend to die. Not really.

"No." He met her gaze squarely. "Would you?"

She didn't even hesitate. "Of course not."

Of course not.

Deliah was Cade's girl. She was crazy about him. Always had been. Sometimes, Syn couldn't believe the things she put up with from him, but she did. It wasn't like she couldn't do better. She was the best mechanic he'd ever seen and she'd had offers from other captains. Lots of them, with better ships and better crews. She could do better, but he was glad she hadn't. Her joining their crew was the best thing that had ever happened to him and Cade.

"He'll come back," he said quietly. "He always does."

She tensed and her mouth twisted like she'd eaten something sour. "Who says I want him to?"

Blue had been devastated that morning when she'd woken up alone on Bastion. She'd managed to keep her composure and thank Fel politely when he'd doled out the reward money for bringing his daughter back, but the following days with a furious Zeltron had not been fun. She'd cooled a little by the time they made it to Rav's, but then Calixte had shown up and here they were in an Imp cell.

He'd known she was still moody about Cade, but the anger in her eyes now startled him. "You don't mean that," he said.

"I do!" she protested, leaning down against his chest again.

"Cade could come back tomorrow and you'd be his girl again." He wasn't trying to be mean. It was just a fact. And they could only be so lucky for Cade to suddenly show up and get them out of this hellhole.

"I don't care right now." Her voice was less forceful this time. Resigned. "I'm tired, Jariah. He left me. I would've understood if he wanted some time alone, but the sleemo didn't even try to explain or say goodbye. He just left us."

Syn heard the hurt in her words now and he fingered her hair, stroking it gently.

"Maybe Cade was right," she said, and her breath was warm against his shoulder. "Maybe he's better off alone. Or we're better off without him."

He didn't want to believe it, but he couldn't say for sure that she was wrong. So he didn't say anything and just kept running his fingers through her hair. She pressed in closer and tugged up his shirt in the back to slide her hands along his skin. That was her thing: skin to skin contact. The worse she felt, the more she wanted it. Mirroring her touch, he caressed the bare skin along the small of her back.

This was as far as it ever went with him and Blue. He'd hold her and they'd touch for a while, and then she'd recover and move on. He enjoyed it - what warm-blooded man wouldn't? - but he took it for what it was - just her thing. Besides, it felt good.

He'd closed his eyes in the warm darkness and was almost asleep when he felt her lips press against his.

He jerked in surprise and hit his head on the wall, but she didn't stop. Clutching her hands around his head and sinking her fingers into his hair, she kissed him deeply with a heat that turned into something like desperation.

Her skin wasn't cold anymore. In fact, it was hot and smelled vaguely of some exotic spice. Disentangling his hands from her hair, he ran them slowly down her back to rest at her waist where he pulled her hips as close as he could get her.

She broke away, panting.

"I'm not him," Syn gasped.

Her wet lips shone even in the dark. "No, you're not."

For whatever kriffed-up reason, he felt obligated to state the obvious. "I'm not Cade."

"I know who you are, Jariah," she breathed, kissing him again - not as hard or as long, but with purpose. "I need you." Another kiss. "I want this." And another. "I want _you._"

That was all she had to say. His gut had gone warm from the inside out and it was his turn to tremble.

Tomorrow be damned. Tonight, she was _his_ girl.

:--:--:--:--:

She was asleep on top of him when the door hissed open. He hadn't wanted her to sleep on the hard floor, so he lay on his back with her body draped over his and her head resting on his chest.

"Deliah!" he whispered sharply. "We got company. Wake up."

She jumped, sitting up quickly and slid off him. He scrambled to help her stand with one hand while adjusting his clothes with the other.

It wasn't stormtroopers this time, but black-robed Sith. The two who entered first were fully cloaked while a third - their leader, by the looks of her - followed. She was tall and thin and had her hair pulled into a tail on top of her head.

Deliah backed against the wall and Syn took a step to stand in front of her, his arm held out protectively.

Moff Calixte and a small contingent of stormtroopers came through the door last.

"These are Skywalker's companions?" the tall Sith asked no one in particular.

Calixte stepped forward. "Yes, Lady Maladi."

The light in the room wasn't much brighter with the door open, but Calixte's expression left no room for doubt. She was angry.

Maladi glanced in the Moff's direction and smiled thinly. "Lord Krayt was most displeased that you did not disclose your newest acquisitions to him. However, he is willing to pardon the error in exchange for your cooperation."

Calixte gave a stiff nod and said nothing, pursing her lips as tight as Syn had ever seen them.

The Sith motioned her flunkies forward. "They will be taken to my laboratory. You may or may not want them back when I'm done."

Syn stopped listening and turned to Deliah. Her face was a blank mask of hate but he could see fear in her eyes. He reached for her. "It'll be okay."

Taking in a ragged breath as the Sith approached, she squeezed his hand tight.

-end-


	2. Chapter 2

**PART 2**

**A/N:** This one takes place during _Claws of the Dragon_ (Issue 17, specifically) and was a little harder to fit into canon. I hope it worked. As before, there is an adult-rated version of this on my homepage site.

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"Syn!" Jariah looked up from the Vong bug he'd affectionately named Boss. The little beauty was his constant companion lately and he'd just used it to arrange his small army of spy and boom bugs throughout the Sith Temple.

Kee skidded around the corner. "You've got to stop her!" the young Devaronian pointed to the control room. "She's gonna blow up the whole ship!"

"Spast!" He jumped up, shoving Boss into his pocket.

Sure enough, half of the secondary comm panel was sparking and smoking and the ship's mechanic was doing nothing about it. In fact, she was yanking wires from the console, scorching her gloves and making the whole mess even worse.

"Blue!" he shouted over the crackling haze. "What the hell are you doing?"

He had almost reached her when she spun around with a murderous glare. Sithspit. Jariah knew that look. It was a bad look. He held his hands up in mock surrender and she threw a wrench at him and stormed away.

Chak went for the extinguisher, spraying down the panel and cursing in Shyriiwook phrases that Jariah had never heard before.

When the smoke finally cleared, it didn't look _too_ bad, though. "Can you fix it, Kee?" he asked.

"Yeah, I s'pose. It'll take a couple of days..." she answered, doing a double-take at the holoplate behind them.

The object of Deliah's fury was still there: a small holoprojection of Cade, decked out in Sith garb, locked in a passionate kiss with the red Twi'lek, Darth Talon. How many times had they run into her now? That girl was bad news.

His eyes went wide.

Bad news who had just removed part of her clothes and Jariah looked away awkwardly. He wasn't no prude but there were just some things you didn't want to see your best friend doing with a girl.

"Wanna see if Spook'll let us turn that off?" Kee asked.

Jariah nodded, although he was more concerned about the Zeltron than the Imperial agent who had moved in and taken over their operation to rescue Cade from the Sith Temple.

Too late.

Deliah stomped back into the room armed with one of Cade's double-barrel blasters and pointed it directly at the holoplate. Jariah and Kee took an involuntary step back --

"STOP!" Everyone in the room froze at the sharp command. The Spook - otherwise known as Morrigan Corde, otherwise known as Cade's mother - stood in the doorway pointing directly at Deliah. "Put it down, girl."

It was a sight to behold. Corde was a striking woman who could be as formidable as she was beautiful and right now she looked damn formidable.

Deliah didn't move.

Corde approached her and Deliah lifted the barrel slightly until it was aimed directly at her chest. The older woman didn't so much as flinch as she placed herself squarely between the holoplate and Deliah's blaster.

When Corde spoke again it was with calm precision, like you'd talk to a child or someone who wasn't quite tracking on all frequencies. "Do we _have_ another holoprojector, Blue?"

Deliah just stood there, flushing a deep shade of pink and breathing too fast.

"No, we _don't_ have another holoprojector," Corde continued in the same exaggerated tone. "And if you blow this one up, then we can't see where _Cade_ is. If we can't see where Cade _is_, then we can't get him _out_ and _away_ from the Sith."

The blaster dipped, just a little, and Deliah leaned to the side trying to see around Corde to the holoplate. Corde shifted too, though, continuing to block her view. Jariah could see exactly what was happening on the holoplate and no, Blue did not need to see it. Not at all.

Corde held out her hand. "Give me the gun."

Deliah's mouth twisted in an agonizing display of emotions, finally ending in resignation. Slowly, she handed over the blaster and stared down at the floor, deflated. The room had gone quiet except for the soft moans of intimacy coming from the holo.

Reaching behind her back, Corde shut off the transmission. She was a smart woman, Cade's mom, and she sounded almost motherly when she suggested that Deliah go to her room and rest. Almost.

When Blue was gone, Corde turned and sauntered away and yeah, Syn watched. The woman had curves on her curves and knew how to move them.

Damn.

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Six hours later, Deliah hadn't come out for dinner and Syn knocked on her door gently. "Blue? It's me. Can I come in?"

A muffled response that might have been a 'no' came through the wall and he keyed the door open. Her normally-neat quarters were trashed and she was curled up on the bed with her back to the door. It took him a minute to clear off a spot to sit down.

Boss squirmed in his pocket and he lifted the bug out and placed it on one of the remaining shelves, coaxing it to sleep with a practiced touch.

Blue hadn't moved and Jariah picked at a dirty spot on the red sash that hung from his waist. "You know how the Jedi can do that hoodoo on your mind?" he started carefully. "Maybe the Sith done somethin' to Cade's brain. Making him do things..."

"Don't," she mumbled from the blankets. "Don't try to help. Everybody saw it."

She curled in on herself a little more and he knew she was mad, but she never just crumbled like this. Was she embarrassed? Didn't have a reason to be.

He cleared his throat, shifting on the hard surface. "You two ain't never been exclusive, have you? In that Imp cell, you know - me and you -"

Jariah knew he'd messed up as soon as he said it and, sure enough, she flipped over to face him, spearing him with furious eyes. "That's different! You ain't a filthy _Sith whore!_"

"Sorry." He looked away and she turned her back to him again.

The Imps had been bad but the Sith had been worse. He'd have nightmares for the rest of his life about the horrors in that Maladi's lab, but they had been especially cruel to Blue. Syn had been drugged during the worst of the experiments, but Blue hadn't. She'd laid there, crying and refusing to scream, and the Twi'lek that Cade was with right now had helped.

Standing up, Jariah made his way through the clutter to her bed. He sat on the edge at first and reached for her hair, stroking the soft waves. She started to shake, like she had in the prison cell, and he kicked off his boots to lay down behind her, wrapping her in his arms and cradling her body in his as she cried into her pillow.

When she was spent, she turned over and looked up at him, suddenly seeming much younger than she had before. He'd never asked her age - 'bout the same as his and Cade's he guessed. Maybe not. Maybe it was the light. Drizzled with tears, she sparkled in the dim bedroom and he thought, not for the first time, that Cade didn't deserve her.

Picking up the edge of the sheet, he wiped the tears away.

"Stay with me," she whispered, brushing her fingertips over his hair, his cheek...his lips.

He shook his head self-consciously. "Ain't right, Blue. Not like this."

"Why?"

Wasn't it obvious? After the scene she'd just made? "If I stay - "

"I can't be mad at Cade?" She cut him off. "It ain't the same, Jariah."

The reason probably had something to do with Zeltron logic, but he had to ask. "Why?"

"Because you're my _friend,_" she answered indignantly. "And you're not kriffing some sleemo witch who..." Her voice trailed off, tight with pain. It was too soon to talk about what had happened in Darth Maladi's lab.

Wincing visibly from the memory, she closed her eyes and turned on her side with her back to him again. "Never mind. Just leave."

"Blue..."

"Get out!"

He put his hand on her cool arm and she tensed. "C'mon, Deliah," he said. "Don't do this. Look at me." Tightening his grip, he pulled her onto her back and she blinked up at him as he pushed damp hair from her forehead. Fat tears ran down her cheeks and he brushed them away with his fingertips. With a trembling hand, Deliah reached miserably for his shirt, pulling him closer and he leaned down, brushing his lips against hers. She tasted like salt and spice and he kissed her slow and soft until she relaxed in his arms. Everything about her felt good and, soon, her skin wasn't cold or rigid, but hot and pliable in his embrace and he lowered his body against hers, pressing in harder.

Clutching his hair in an ever-deepening kiss she molded against him, wrapping her arms and legs around his, clinging like the world was spinning too fast and she might fall off.

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A knock at the door made them both jump. "Blue?" It was Kee. "Syn in there? Corde's looking for him."

Deliah shifted beside him, mumbling, "Your lady calls."

Syn struggled to his elbows and kicked off the sheet. "Be right there," he called to the door as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. He looked back at Blue and lifted a tangle of hair to see her face. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she drawled, climbing to her knees to wrap her arms around him. "Don't tell Cade, all right? I mean, not about us, but about me tearing up the ship…over…_her._" Deliah wouldn't even say Talon's name, not that he could blame her.

"He's gonna know things ain't right with you," he said, pulling on his boots. "What if he asks?"

"Just tell him it's something about the engine," she answered, planting a light kiss on on his shoulder.

Jariah turned and wrapped his arm around her waist. "You really don't care if he knows about this?"

Deliah shrugged. "He hadn't made me no promises."

He nodded uneasily. "Well, _I_ might care. At least until I know he's not gonna fry me with that Force of his."

She smiled, retrieving the rest of his clothes from the floor. "I'm not ashamed of you, lover, but you got a deal. Never know when he's gonna go crazy." She pointed to Boss, still docile on the shelf. "Don't forget that."

When he was presentable, he made his way through the ship until he found Kee and Corde in the control room.

Kee was welding something on the scorched comm panel and paused, pushing up her goggles. "You kiss it and make it all better, Syn?" she teased.

Leaning against the hull, he flashed her his best chuffing grin. "Why? Wanna ride?"

"No!" she sputtered, shoving her goggles back into place over wide eyes. "Quit playin', Jariah."

"C'mon, pateesa." This was too easy. "It'll scorch your jets."

A snicker from behind made him glance back to find Corde looking up from her datapad with one eyebrow half-cocked. He turned away just as fast when his cheeks suddenly started burning at her amusement.

Kee tossed her tools down and stomped out, announcing that she had to use the 'fresher.

When she was gone, Corde confronted him. "Is Blue going to be a problem?" she asked, all business again.

"Naw," he answered. "She just took it personal this time." Boss twitched in his pocket and he opened the flap so the bug could crawl up his arm to rest on his shoulder. "Been tortured by Imps and Sith and now Cade being...Cade...Blue's just had a bad run of it. Bound to catch up with a girl."

Corde studied him with Cade's cool green eyes and finally nodded with a short noise of assent. "The spy bug outside Cade's room is not transmitting. You need to put another one in position."

She went back to her datapad and he sat down in front of the surveillance screen. The silence was loud. "Ain't never met a Imp lady like you before," he said in what he hoped was a casual tone. "Most of 'em hard-looking, like that Calixte shutta. Now that's a vile woman if I ever saw one." Jariah swivled around. "You know her?"

Corde shook her shock of blonde hair. "Never met her."

He turned back to the screen. "Well, if you ever do, shove her out an airlock for me."

"I'll keep that in mind," she answered, switching off her pad. "Better get busy cleaning up your mess, girl."

Jariah looked around to find Blue standing in the doorway with two bottles from the galley. She'd changed clothes, washed her face and looked almost as good as new. "Kee ain't tried to out-do me yet?" she asked, crossing to stand behind his chair with the drinks.

"Kee will monitor the holoprojector," Corde said pointedly, heading toward the door. "You two just be ready."

Syn took a swig from his bottle and leaned against Deliah, watching Corde's retreating form. "We're always ready, lady."

-end-


End file.
